Baton Rouge Defective Products Attorneys

Manufacturers have a legal obligation to ensure that the products they offer for sale are safe for use. Despite this obligation, dangerous products enter the marketplace where they cause injuries to innocent, unsuspecting consumers.

If you have been harmed, you deserve to have a skilled injury attorney fighting for the compensation you deserve. Consult a Baton Rouge defective products lawyer to determine whether you could seek damages by bringing a lawsuit for product liability.

What Is a Product Liability Claim?

A product liability claim is a demand for a product manufacturer to pay for the losses an injured person suffered because of the product.

The Louisiana Product Liability Act allows you to claim damages if you can prove the product was defective. Under the law, a product is faulty if there is a demonstrable deficiency in its construction, composition, or design that renders it unsafe. A product also could be defective if its label is not adequate to allow for safe use or if it does not live up to an express warranty. A savvy attorney in Baton Rouge could evaluate your accident to determine whether the product was defective under the law.

In addition to showing that a product is defective, you must also prove the following:

• The product has not been significantly altered since leaving the factory
• You used the product in a manner that the manufacturer should have anticipated
• Your injuries are directly related to the product defect

If your local lawyer can prove the above elements, you may earn the damages for your claim. You don’t need to prove that the manufacturer was negligent.

Your Actions Can Affect Damages in a Defective Item Claim

Although you don’t need to prove the manufacturer negligent, a manufacturer might try to show that you were. If you bear some responsibility for the accident that led to your injuries, it could affect the compensation you receive.

The state negligence law follows the pure comparative negligence doctrine, which means that each party to an action is responsible for the results of their actions.

In a lawsuit, a judge determines how much responsibility each party had for the accident that caused the injury. If you bear some blame, the judge may reduce your damages by a percentage reflecting your fault degree. However, an injury lawyer in Baton Rouge could advocate on your behalf to ensure you don’t carry excessive blame for the defective item accident.

Statute of Limitations in Baton Rouge Cases

Each state enacts statutes of limitation, which are laws defining the time you have to file a lawsuit. Louisiana requires people seeking damages for personal injuries to file a lawsuit within one year of the event that caused the harm. This is a short time frame and requires you to call a legal advocate as soon as possible after your accident.

Not all product defects or the harm they cause are immediately apparent. For example, if an appliance emits toxic gases, but the gases have no odor and are not visible, you might not realize you’ve suffered harm from the appliance for months or even years after your first exposure.

The law addresses this issue with the “discovery” rule, which delays the statute of limitations in certain cases. The one-year time period does not begin running until a consumer discovers the injury and the product’s connection to the injury.

An Aggressive Defective Product Law Firm

Defective product lawsuits are complex undertakings that require persistence and savvy. Manufacturers devote their resources to protecting themselves from liability, so you need a professional advocate who’s committed to getting justice for you.

A Baton Rouge defective product lawyer is ready, willing, and able to stand up to the industry lawyers to seek the compensation you deserve.

Contact us at (225) 240-4053 or fill out the form.